Chapter 1 - Scientific Understanding of Behaviour

Question 1

How do we acquire knowledge?

Answer 1

Authority, intuition, experience, common sense, logic, and empiricism

Question 2

Authority

Answer 2

• The capacity to influence others
• Any source of power or control
• We often defer to authorities and accept their ideas and recommendation unthinkingly

Question 3

Types of Authority

Answer 3

Formal vs Informal

• Formal authority enables and individual to exert influence as a result of either high, legally recognized office (legitimate authority) or high rank in a long-established but not legally codified hierarchy (traditional authority)
• Informal authority is based on the individual having either attributes that facilitate the achievement of a group’s goals (rational or expert authority) or an attractive and authoritative personality serving to enhance his or her credibility (charismatic authority)

Question 4

Intuition

Answer 4

Relying upon anecdote, experience, or judgement to make sense of the world, without adopting a critical or questioning mindset

Question 5

Experience

Answer 5

An event that is actually lived through that has resulted in learning

Question 6

Common Sense

Answer 6

Beliefs or propositions that are generally agreed upon to reflect sound judgement and non esoteric reasoning

Common sense psychology: ideas about psychological issues derived from common experience and not necessarily from empirical laboratory or clinical studies

Question 7

Logical Inference

Answer 7

A conclusion deduced from an earlier premise or premises according to values rules of inference, or the process of drawing such a conclusion

Question 8

Empiricism

Answer 8

All knowledge of matters of fact either arises from experience or requires experience for its validation

The view that systematic experimentation is the foundation of scientific knowledge and the means by which individuals evaluate truth claims or the adequacy of theories and models

Question 9

Where do research questions come from?

Answer 9

Questioning common assumptions, observation of the world around us, practical problems, and past research

Question 10

Questioning common assumptions

Answer 10

Conducting research to test common assumptions forces us to go beyond a common-sense theory of behaviour and to examine more closely what actually occurs in the real world

Question 11

Observation of the world around us

Answer 11

Making careful observations of what happens around us can lead to research questions

Question 12

Practical problems

Answer 12

Real-world problems can serve as the impetus for a research question

Question 13

Past research

Answer 13

Reviewing past research, and identifying inconsistencies and gaps in knowledge, can help generate novel research questions

Question 14

Four Norms of Scientific Inquiry

Answer 14

1. Universalism
2. Communality
3. Replication
4. Disinterestedness

• Organized skepticism
• Peer review

Question 15

Universalism

Answer 15

Scientific observations are systematic and structured, and evaluated objectively using the accepted methods of the discipline

Question 16

Communality

Answer 16

Methods and results are to be shared openly

Question 17

Replication

Answer 17

The repetition of an original experiment or research study to verify or bolster confidence in its results

• In exact replication, a researcher uses procedures that are identical to the original experiment or duplicated as closely as possible
• In modified replication, a researcher incorporates alternative procedures and additional conditions
• In conceptual replication, a researcher introduces different techniques and manipulations to gain theoretical information

Question 18

Disinterestedness

Answer 18

Ideally, scientists should be making observations that will help them discover accurate things about the world

Scientists should be motivated by an honest and careful quest for truth, and ideally are not motivated by fame, ego, or personal gain

Question 19

Organized Skepticism

Answer 19

All new evidence and theories should be evaluated based on scientific merit, even those that challenge one’s own work or prior beliefs

Question 20

Peer Review

Answer 20

The evaluation of scientific or academic work, such as research or articles submitted to journals for publication, by other qualified professional practicing in the same field

Question 21

Goals of Scientific Research

Answer 21

1. Describe behaviour
2. Predict behaviour
3. Determine the causes of behaviour
4. Explain behaviour
5. Solve problems

Question 22

Basic vs Applied Research

Answer 22

Basic research:
- Research conducted to obtain greater understanding of a phenomenon, explore a theory, or advance knowledge, with no consideration of any direct practical application.
- Goals: describe behaviour, predict behaviour, determine the causes of behaviour, explain behaviour

Applied research:
- studies conducted to solve real-world problems, as opposed to studies that are carried out to develop a theory or to extend basic knowledge.
- Goal: solve problems